Amusement Park Stocks

It's Summer Time Summer time is here! Every year during this time the kids and teenagers are probably the happiest as they finally can throw away the text books, forget all about homeworks and tests and enjoy everyday as weekends. Well actually not only the young ones are the happiest during the summer but also some of the business owners probably would also enjoy the summer holidays. No, they are not gettings days off. They are actually working harder and expect a lot more cash coming in. Who are these people? The amusement parks owners.

Here are the amusement park companies:

• Six Flags Inc. (SIX): the amusement park is famous for its thrilling roller coaster rides. In addition the company also owns water parks which should attract visitors in a hot summer. The company however has been troubled by mounting debt and is considering selling its top attraction in Northern L.A. - Magic Mountain despite the park bringing 2 million fearless roller coaster riders every year. The company is also thinking of selling its water parks in Concord, Buffalo, Denver, Seattle and Houston to cut its $2.1 billion debt. The debt problem is why shares of the nation's second-largest theme park operator haven't done well this year, dropping from near $12 in February to $5.4 recently, basically erased the gains for the past 52 weeks. Now as the hot season for amusement parks is here, let's see if it will ease the investor worry and bring the stock back up.
• Cedar Fair LP (FUN): the Sandusky, Ohio based company owns amusement parks throughout the nations including Cedar Point(Ohio), Knott's Berry Farm (California), Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom(Pennsylvania), Valleyfair(Minnesota), Worlds of Fun(Missouri) Geauga Lake and Wildwater Kingdom(Ohio) and Michigan's Adventure (Michigan). The company generated annual revenue of $567 million about half of Six Flag's $1.08 billion yet is getting net income of $159.91 million compared with Six Flag's $149.77 million net loss which is probably why the company actually has almost three times of Six Flag's market cap at $1.38 billion. However the stock hasn't done well for the past 52 weeks as it slided from $32 last July to $25.54 recently. Recently the insiders have been buying shares so they probably must be expecting a great summer for the parks and the stock.
• Walt Disney Co. (DIS): speaking of amusement park you don't want to miss the nation's largest and most famous amusement park operator - Walt Disney Co. The 64 billion diversified entertainment company has been making quite a comeback this year rising from $24 per share in January to $29.83 recently as new CEO has brought in exciting partners such as Steve Job's Apple Inc. As the famous Disneyland is celebrating 50 year anniversary with massive marketing and the company's movie arm is making box office hit, do expect the company to bring good numbers and help the stock to go higher heading into summer.
• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (BUD): yup.. this is the company which makes the famous Budweiser beer. Not only that the St. Louis based beer maker also owns popular theme parks such as SeaWorld in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio. The company also operates Adventure Island and Busch Gardents in Tampa Bay and Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. The stock is poised for more upside during the summer as it has rose from 52 weeks low of $40 in early February to $46 recently.
• Vivendi (V):

[Precious Metal] Silver Stocks

Silver Proof In the previous two articles we have talked about gold stocks and copper stocks. In the third article of the previous metal stocks we will take a look at another commodity - silver.

Here are the silver mining companies:

• Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW): the Vancouver, Canada based silver mining company purchases silver mines in Mexico and Sweden. Silver Wheaton is the only public traded mining company with all of its revenue coming from silver production. The company is expected to have annual silver sales of about 15 million ounces and then to 20 million ounces by 2009. Since the stock begin listed in AMEX last July at $3.1 per share, it rose to as high as $11.75 per share in April, gaining almost 300% in less than a year, before the May and June sell-off pushed the stock back to $8.36 per share today. In early May the stock was moved from AMEX to NYSE in order to gain broader exposure yet the stock actually has been down since. As for 2005 the company has generated revenue of $70.9 million with income of $25.3 million.
• Hecla Mining Co. (HL): the Coeur Dalene, Idaho based company has mining operation of silver, gold, lead and zinc in United States, Venezuela and Mexico. After reaching multi-year low of 50 cents in December of 2000, the stock began to go north and is now trading at 850% since its low at $4.74 per share. For this year the company is expected to dig out 6 million ounes of silver. The average price of silver which is one of the most importanat number of the mining firm has increased to $9.69/ounce in the first quarter of 2006, up from $7/ounce in the same quarter of previous year. Although for 2005 the company got net loss of $26 million with shrinking revenue of $110 million, the first quarter of 2006 looks more promising as the company has already earned more than a third of last year revenue of $40 million while generating net income of $38 million.
• Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. (CDE): the silver and gold mining company is also based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with mining properties in United States, Australia and Africa. For 2005 the company has dig out 13.7 million ounces of silver compared to 14.1 million ounces in the previous year. The total probable silver reserves that the company owns is about 221.4 million ounces as of December of 2005. Despite slight drop in production the company actually has generated more revenue in 2005 - abuot $172 million compared with $133 million in the previous year on rising silver price. However recent sell-off has wiped out all the gains for this year as the stock is now back at $4.39 per share but should be expected to rise again with price of silver probably won't go down sharply anytime soon.

Smart Sector Of The Day - Peru

• Peru Stocks +5.02%: the country with rich natural resources is attracting investors as buyers are hoping the election in June will wipe out all the negatives. The Peru stocks, which covered two weeks ago on May 21, soared 5.02% to overall gain of 22.36%. So far all the stocks in this sector are in positive territory with one big winner leading the way, CUP, the copper mining company, leading the way with gain of 50% so far in just two weeks. CUP has surged for the third consecutive session from $4.14 at the close of last Wednesday to $6.05 today, gaining 46% in just three days. Today the stock also surged 14%.

[Prescious Metal] Copper Stocks

Precious Copper About a month ago we introduced companies involved in mining operation of a appreciating previous metal - gold. As prices of many precious metals are on the rise, it may be worth while to look at another metal on the rise - copper. After a brief look, we have noticed that most of the copper mining companies have benefited from the soaring copper price with annual stock price gain from 20% to 400%. As many of these copper mining companies are upgraded by analysts, this maybe worth while to take a look and see if you should have one of them in your portfolio.

Here are the copper mining companies:

• Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. (FCX): the New Orleans, Louisiana based mining company explores copper, gold and silver in properties in Indonesia. The rising copper price has helped the earning as the copper company's revenue almost doubled to 4.2 billion in 2005 compared to $2.4 billion in the previous year. For the most recent quarter, the company earned record net income of $251 million for the first quarter of 2006, almost doubled from $130 million in the same quarter of previous year. The stock for the past 52 weeks has gone up from $35.34 per share in the beginning of last June to $56.74 of June this year, up 60% in one year.
• Peru Copper Inc. (CUP): the Vancouver, Canada based company involves in copper mining operation in Peru. For the first quarter of 2006 the company reported a net loss of $1.0 million compared to net loss of $0.7 million of the same quarter in the previous year. Recently the company entered into an agreement for the option to acquire interest in a mining project which is estimated to have annual production rate of 272,788 tones of copper. For the past 52 weeks the stock has soared 400% from $1.1 in the beginning of last June to $5.29 on Friday of June 2, 2006.
• Phelps Dodge Corp. (PD): the Phoenix, Arizona based copper mining company is the world's second largest copper producer with copper mining production in United States and South America. The company has 17.7 billion in market cap with revenue of 8.63 billion and net income of $1.55 billion. For the past 52 weeks the stock has surged 100% from $86.85 last June to $86.94 on Friday of June 2, 2006, as the stock already went through a 2 for 1 split in March of 2006.
• Regalito Copper Corp. (RLO): the Vancouver, Canada based company is still in development stage and owns interests in copper property in Chile. The company has yet to generate any revenue and had a net loss of $3 million in 2005. The stock has gained about 20% for the past 52 weeks from $4.85 last June to $5.93 on Friday of June 2, 2006.
• Southern Copper Corp. (PCU): the Phoenix, Arizona based company involves in mining operation of copper, molybdenum, zinc, silver, gold and lead. the company operates copper mines in Peru and Mexico. As of 2005 the copper mining company produced 1,521 million pounds of copper. The revenue has more than doubled to $4 billion in 2005 compared to $1.7 billion in 2004. For the past 52 weeks the stock has gained 87% from $46.52 in June of 2005 to $86.96 on Friday of June 2, 2006.

[Alternative Energy] Ethonal Stocks

I was watching one of my favorite show The Amazing Race, a reality show featuring contestants racing countries from contries performing unique tasks and the episode with racers in Brazil are told to do a interesting task - turning suger cane into fuel. Not only that the suger cane fuel they made were to be dump into the oil tank of the cars they drove. Wow, what a magic.. but wait!! You probably may wonder, if such thing exist in Brazil, why not in US, the should-be technology advanced nation. Well, guess what, we probably have something not exactly the same but with similar idea.

Yes, we are still probably the leading nation in technology, even in alternative energy technology. But without the mass supply of suger canes, the green energy companies turn instead to something we have a lot in the central state such as Iowa - the corns. So instead of performing the alchemy on suger canes, Green Corporate America turns corns into biofuels or what we known as ethanol fuel.

The recent surge in gasoline price have turn investors attention to alternative energy fuel such as hydrogen. However many says ethanol is probably the most ready green fuel. In addition with President Bush's signing of the comprehensive energy bill which would increase the production of ethanol from 4 to 7.5 billion US gallon, this is probably a good time to take a look at the ethanol related stocks.

Here are the companies working on ethonal fuel:

• Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM): the Decatur, IL, based company is the leading agricultural processors of soybeans, corn wheat and cocoa. The company then turns these crops into oil, sweetners, chocolate, ethanol and biodiesel. ADM is probably so far the nation's largest ethanol producer, claiming it has one fourth of the U.S. ethanol capacity. Currently the company has 5% revenue coming from ethanol and is hoping to lift annual product about 50% into 1.5 billion gallons. The company is $27.95 billion in market cap and generates $36.47 billion of revenue and $1.1 billion of net income annually. The stock has been doing well for the past 52 weeks rising from $20 per share last June to $42.71 per share last Friday, gaining more than 100% in a year.
• Andersons Inc (ANDE): the Maumee, Ohio based company engages in diversified agricultural business in grain & ethanol, turf, plant nutrient, rail and retail. In September 2005 the company invested $13.1 in The Andersons Albion Ethanol which is in the process of building a 55 million gallon-per-year ethanol production facility. In addition the company also invested $2.0 in anther company who's also constructing ethanol plant in Rensselaer, Indiana. Another major ethanol investment came in February of 2006 with $21 million in The Andersons Clymer's Ethanol which is building a 110 million gallon-per-year ethanol production facility. The company has $766.97 million in market cap and generates $1.32 billion in revenue and $28.89 million in net income. The stock has been doing well in 2006, rising from $43 in January to $100.93 on Friday, almost 150% in just six month.
• Pacific Ethanol Inc. (PEIX): the Fresno, CA based renewable fuel company is currently building or planning to build five ethanol plant in the west coast. Due to the high demand of ethanol in California, the company currently rely on shipping ethanol from the Midweat and is currently constructing ethanol plant in Madera County, CA. The ethanol hype has helped the stock performance for this year, rising from $11 in January to as high as $44 in May, gaining 300% in four month. The softening margin of ethanol and new share dilution have drove the stock down recently to $29.5 on Friday. However with gas price still high, this is still a good company to own for the long term.

Smart Sectors Of The Day - Brazil, Russia

• Brazil Stocks +8.1%: after two weeks of profit taking the Brazil stocks finally got a big lift today by surging 8.1%. This is a huge gain considering there are total of 10 stocks in the sector. The major advancers today are NETC(+15.54%), ITU(+10.06%), SID(+9.93%), RIO(+8.27%), BBD(+8%) and GGB(+8.02%). Even the index tracking stock EWZ, has gained 6.65%.
• Russia Stocks +7.36%: another big winner today is the Russia sector in which four stocks have gained on average 7.36%. The stock leading the way is the cable company MOCC, gaining 9.54% to overall gain of 53.69% since end of January.

[Foreign] Peru Stocks

The Pride of Inca Empire After looking at red hot Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico, let's take a look at another Latin American country south of the equator - Peru. The Spanish speaking country with population of 28 million not only is rich in History as it contains ancient ruins of Inca Empire but also has abundant mineral deposits such as gold and copper. With the world in high demand of the previous metals such as gold, silver and copper, Peru, similar to Brazil is getting attention from investors with its rich precious metals. In addition as Peru's economy grew 6 percent last year, the best perfornace since 1998 and would probably grow for another 5% this year, this is probably a great time to look at the Peru stock. Although the investors are still waiting as Peru is going to have the presidential election next month, after the election is over we should see buyers back as uncertainty of election clears.

Here are the Peruvian companies traded in the US stock exchanges:

• Credicorp Ltd. (BAP): the Lima, Peru based financial service company provides commercial banking services in Peru. This 117 year old company currently operates 309 branches. The company recently gave a bullish forecast seeing a stronger earning for 2006. In addition the company also recently reported a strong first-quarter earning with increase of 17.4% on strong loan growth. However the stock has been decling since the announcement as the investors are probably sitting on the sideline until the presidential election is over. Nevertheless the stock still has been doing well for the past 52 weeks rising from $18 last may to $27.05 on Friday, rising 50% for the year.
• Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN): the Lima, Peru based gold and silver mining company operates three mines and has interest in three other mining companies in Peru. The stock hasn't done well this month on negative news saying Peru is still not a friendly place for mining company due to instability despite rich minerals. In addition with gold price beginning to fall, the investors are staying away from any gold related stocks. The stock is back to where it was at half year ago at $25.24 per share.
• Peru Copper Inc. (CUP): the Vancouver, Canada based company involves in copper mining operations in Peru. The stock had been doing well for the past 52 weeks due increase in copper price. However the stock has been under pressure recently as metal price such as gold, silver and copper had topped out and were beginning to fall. As the result the stock has fall from 52 weeks high of $5.53 per share on May 10 down to $4.03 on Friday, May 19, dropping more than 20% in two weeks. Nevertheless the stock still has been doing well this year, gaining 35% so far in about five months and almost 150% since last May.